Apparatus for shelling shrimps

ABSTRACT

Cooked shrimps which are accordingly curved are shelled by accurately orienting them and transferring them to a shelling station where the body portion of the shell is gripped and the tail is straightened out and the shrimp is beheaded. The body and tail portions of the shell are then separated and the shrimp is pushed part way out of the gripped body portion of the shell. The tail portion of the shell is then stripped off and the shrimp is then pushed all the way out of the body portion of the shell.

United States Patent Muller [S4] APPARATUS FOR SHELLING SHRIMPS [72] Inventor: Hendrikus Gerhardus Muller, 1169 Gronauestraat, Hengelo, Netherlands [22] Filed: April 13, 1971 211 Appl. No.: 133,594

Related U.S. Application Data [62] Division of Ser. No. 807,349, March 14, 1969,

Pat. No. 3,600,744.

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data March 14, 1968 Netherlands ..6803635 [52] us. Cl ..17/73 [51] Int. Cl ..A22c 29/00 [58] Field oi Search ..17/71, 72, 73, 48

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,367,546 2/1921 l-iirth et a1. ..17/71 i I 3H :9 ,1" f; |8- 7. lg l 1 Sept. 19,1972

2,716,776 9/1955 Streich et al ..17/72 3,122,777 3/1964 Jonsson ..17/72 3,310,832 3/1967 Ambos et al ..17/72 3,566,437 3/1971 Jonsson ..17/72 Primary Examiner-Lucie H. Laudenslager Attorney-Young & Thompson 57 ABSTRACT the shrimp is then pushed all the way out of the body portion of the shell.

26 Claims, 12 Drawing Figures PATENTEDsEr 19 m2 SHEET 03!]! 11 om mvOw Bu 2 N INVENTQR Pmmmmwm 3.691.591 SHEET 05 0F 11 Fig... 5

BY v yr miwo ATTORNEYS PTENTEBSEP u m SHEET BEEF T1 INVENTOR BY fr v- JWW PAT ENTEDsEP I 91912 SHEET 07% 11 QNvN D 2 mm INVENTOR BY r J PATENTEDSEP 1 9 m2 SHEET UBUF 11 INVENT OR Haw/e was se/mnaw M0449:

ATTORNEYS PATENTEDsEP 19 m2 SHEET OSUF 11 INVENTOR r A/E/VDR/KUJ 6519190400: M04459 y 'r-JM ATTORNEYS PAIENTEDSEP 19 m2 SHEET 10 0F 11 INVENTOR ATTORNEYS APPARATUS FOR SHELLING SHRIMPS This application is a division of copending application Ser. No. 807,349, filed Mar. 14, 1969, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,600,744, issued Aug. 24, 1971.

The present invention relates to shelling shrimps, and provides apparatus by which the shrimps are shelled by automatic mechanism.

It is an object of the present invention to provide apparatus for shelling shrimps, in which the shrimps are shelled quickly and easily with a minimum of waste.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of apparatus for shelling shrimps, which will be relatively simple and inexpensive to manufacture, easy to install, operate, maintain and repair, and rugged and durable in use.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of apparatus according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a section on the line III-III of FIG. 1, showing two devices according to the present invention disposed side by side;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken in the same direction as FIG. 1 and showing some of the important operative relationships of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line V- V of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line VIVI of FIG. 5 and showing an end view of the shelling station;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged view of a central portion of FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is an enlarged view of a central portion of FIG. 2;

FIG. 9 is an enlarged view of a central portion of one of the two devices of FIG. 3; and

FIGS. 10-12 are views similar to FIG. 5 but showing the position of the parts and the shrimp at three different stages of the shelling operation.

Referring now to the drawings in greater detail, and first to the overall arrangement of the device as shown in FIG. 1, it will be seen that there are provided a pair of fixed T-beams 1 and 2 which extend between end plates (not shown) of a frame and on which a large number of the shelling devices illustrated in the drawings may be mounted in side-by-side relationship. This side-by-side relationship is indicated in FIG. 3, it being understood that FIG. 3 may be extended indefinitely on either side thereof.

Each shelling unit comprises two main groups of parts, to the left and right of the line .III-III in FIG. 1. Those to the left of that line treat the head and body portions of the shrimp, while those to the right of that line treat the tail portion of the shrimp. It should be borne in mind that in the present apparatus, the shell is severed intennediate its length, the tail end of the shell being stripped from the meat, while the meat is which the right-hand portion of the equipment is movable toward and away from the remainder of the equipment to perform the tail shell-stripping operation referred to above. The beam 1 also carries brackets 7 and 8, while the beam 2 carries a bracket 9.

In the more detailed description that follows, the structure will be described under separate headings according to its function. It should be understood, however, that these headings are arranged so as to give a logical sequence to the description of the structure, and do not necessarily indicate the sequence of operation. That latter sequence will be given when the description of the structure is complete.

SHRIMP ORIENTING AND FEEDING Supported on the bracket 7 are: rollers 10, 11, 12 and 13, over which passes an endless belt conveyor 14 which is driven by a chain (not shown) reeved about a chain wheel 15 carried by the shaft of roller 13 (see FIG. 7). As is perhaps best shown. in FIG. 8, a V-shaped catching member 16 is disposed above conveyor 14 and has upright side walls and an open forward end and a rear end closed by a curved wall. Catching member 16 is mounted on an arm 17 extending from a horizontal shaft 18 for vertical swinging movement with shaft 18 between a lowered position in which shrimps entering the forward end of member 16 will be caught and held thereby and a raised position in which shrimps previously held by member 16 will be released for further travel on conveyor 14. Levers l9 and 20 rotate shaft 18 to raise and lower catching member 16 in timed sequence by appropriate drive means (not shown).

Shrimps released by catching member 16 and carried by conveyor 14 then strike a stopping member 22 disposed transversely across conveyor 14. A slide 21 is mounted beside and on the upstream side of stopping member 22 with respect to the direction of conveyor travel. Slide 21 has a pusher portion parallel to conveyor l4 and is carried by bar for horizontal sliding movement perpendicular to the direction of conveyor travel to push shrimps detained by stopping member 22 into the shelling station while the conveyor 14 continues to move below.

All the shrimps moving along conveyor 14 are oriented in generally the same fashion. For this purpose, an orienting device such as shown in the copending application of the same invenltorship herewith, filed under even date herewith and entitled Apparatus for Feeding Articles to a Conveyor in Uniformly Oriented Condition may be used. Shrimps oriented in this way have the curve of their backs forwardmost on conveyor 14, with the tail lowermost as seen in FIG. 8 and the head uppermost as seen in FIG. 8. In this position, the shrimps conform generally to the curvature of catching member 16, and the head of the shrimp extends out of catching member 16; that is, if a shrimp were shown in FIG. 8, only the head would be visible, projecting out of that portion of catching member 16 that is uppermost in FIG. 8. I

Not all shrimps will be thus desirably disposed in catching member 16. Some may be rotated counterclockwise from the ideal position described above. To reorient these rotated shrimps, a pin 24 oscillates above conveyor 14, performing a counterclockwise stroke as seen in FIG. 9, in order to engage the projecting head of the shrimp from the underside of the head, and turn any misaligned shrimps clockwise as seen in FIG. 8 until they occupy the desired position in catching member 16. Thereafter, when member 16 rises to release the shrimp, the shrimp will have the proper orientation when it strikes member 22 and is pushed laterally by slide 21. To this end, pin 24 rotates on a horizontal shaft 25 (FIG. 8) upon actuation of a fork 26 (FIG. 3).

GRIPPING THE SHRIMP The shrimp is fed to the shelling station by being pushed by the pusher portion of slide 21 to the left as seen in FIG. 9, between a fixed lower gripping member 27 and a fixed upper gripping member 28, where the shrimp initially has the position shown in FIG. 10. Slide 21 retreats to the right as seen in FIG. 9, and a gripper 29 then descends from the position shown in FIG. 9 to a position at the back of the shrimp. At the same time, a gripper 30 moves horizontally, to the right as seen in FIG. 9, to coact with gripper 29 to position the shrimp laterally as seen in FIG. 9. Indeed, gripper 30 is mounted on bar 90 for movement with slide 21. Gripper 30 moves toward the shelling station upon retraction of slide 21. The body of the shrimp between the head and the tail is thus firmly gripped in the shelling station from above and below and from both sides.

STRAIGHTENING THE TAIL Once the shrimp is gripped in the shelling station, the tail is straightened out from the FIG. position to the FIG. 11 position, where it is in line with the body portion of the shrimp. To straighten the tail, a horizontal shaft 31 perpendicular to the length of the body portion rotates clockwise as seen in FIG. 7, to swing a pin 32 in a vertical plane against the underside of the shrimp, from the position of pin 32 shown in FIG. 10 to the position of pin 32 shown in FIG. 11. A chain wheel 33 rotates shaft 31, the shaft 31 being journaled in a support 34 which also carries a bearing bushing 36 in which is journaled the shaft of a plate-shaped stretcher 37 driven by levers 38 and 39. Stretcher 37 rotates in a vertical plane closer to the gripped shrimp than the vertical plane in which pin 32 swings and contacts the shrimp after pin 32 has performed most of the tailstraightening operation. Stretcher 37 further straightens the shrimp and holds the tail during a dwell period. See FIG. 12 for the operative position of stretcher 37.

BEHEADING THE SHRIMP AND EJECTING THE MEAT Gripper 30 includes a block 40 having a blade 41 for beheading the shrimp. Compare the FIG. 11 and FIG. 12 positions of the blade 41. As gripper 30 moves into the shelling station, the blade 41 cuts off the head of the shrimp, which then falls away through the space between block 40 and conveyor 14. Notice also that in the FIG. 12 position of block 40, the block 40 has a horizontal opening therethrough in line with the straightened shrimp. An ejector 42 (FIGS. 4 and 12) moves through this hole in blcok 40 to contact the gripped shrimp and only partially to push the meat out of the shell during a first stage of ejection (FIG. 12). During a second stage of ejection, the meat is pushed all the way out of the body portion of the shell. Ejector 42 is driven through levers 43-47 upon oscillation of shaft 47 (see FIGS. 1 and 7).

SEVERING BODY PORTION AND TAIL PORTION OF SHELL FROM EACH OTHER As best seen in FIGS. 5 and 6, the vertically movable gripper 29 carries an upright blade 82 and the horizontally movable gripper 30 carries an upright blade 83, whose edges are recessed to fit around the shrimp meat on each side of the shrimp when the grippers 29 and 30 are fully engaged with the shrimp, and to cut through adjacent portions of the shrimp shell.

Also, a cutter blade 91 (FIG. 6) moves downwardly to cut through the peritoneum of the shrimp and then retracts upwardly. In this way, the body and tail portions of the shell are sufficiently severed from each other that when the ejector 42 pushes the shrimp meat from its FIG. 11 position to its FIG. 12 position, any remaining connection between the body and tail shell portions will be torn apart and the entire shrimp meat and the tail portion of the shell will move to the FIG. 12 position while the body portion of the shell remains in its FIG. 11 position. It must be emphasized that it is only the shell which is thus sundered, and not the meat.

KNEADING THE TAIL During the tail straightening, the tail-treating parts carried by support 6 have been swinging counterclockwise as seen in FIG. 1, to bring this portion of the assembly into the shelling station. A plate 48 is downwardly yieldably supported on a vertical coil compression spring assembly 56 and moves under the shrimps tail (see FIGS. 4, 7 and 10-12) into close adjacency with the lower gripper 27 for the body of the shrimp. The straightened and stretched shrimp tail lies on plate 48. A lower guide 50 and an upper guide 51 (FIGS. 7 and 12) prevent the tail from swinging upwardly or downwardly when straightened. The pin 32 and stretcher 37 move between the plate 48 on the one hand and the guides 50 and 51 on the other hand.

A roller 52 rotates on a shaft journaled in bushing 53, the shaft at its other end carrying a gear wheel 54 that meshes with a toothed rack 55. Roller 52 is a segment of a cylinder whose radius is equal to the radius of the pitch circle of gear wheel 54. A horizontal bar 57 is slidable in a fixed housing 58. Rack 55 is fixedly secured to fixed housing 58, while bushing 53 is carried by bar 57 (see FIG. 5). Bar 57 is engaged by a fork 59 (FIG. 1) that is swung by oscillation of a shaft 60 to reciprocate bar 57 in housing 58, whereupon gear wheel 54 rolls along and is turned by fixed rack 55 thereby to advance roller 52 to the left and simultaneously to rotate it counterclockwise as seen in FIG. 7. Thus the lowermost point of the roller 52 does not undergo horizontal translation at the instant that it is lowermost. The purpose of imparting this movement to roller 52 is to cause it to move over the tail portion of the shrimp yieldably supported on plate 48, in order to knead the tail portion of the shrimp to loosen the tail portion of the shell from the meat.

STRIPPING OFF THE TAIL SHELL At the right of FIG. 1, an oscillatable horizontal shaft 61 will be seen which carries an arm 62 thereon. Proceeding to FIG. 7, it will be seen that the arm 62 extends upwardly to the left and then downwardly and terminates in a plate 63 whose lower edge is recessed about a curve complementary to the cross section of the shell of the shrimp. When the plate 63 is thus in its lowermost position, it will ride the shrimp like a saddle, and will contact the flesh of the shrimp between the separated body and tail portions of the shell of the shrimp, which separation is indicated in FIG. 12. Thereafter, upon clockwise swinging movement of the support 6 as seen in FIG. 1, so that generally speaking the plate 63 moves to the right as seen in FIG. 7, the plate 63 will engage behind the tail portion of the shell and strip the tail portion of the shell from the meat. Oscillation of the shaft 61 can be controlled so that the plate 63 can follow the profile of the tail meat.

RETENTION IN SHELLING STATION It is desirable to retain the body portion of the shell in the shelling station throughout the entire operation, and to hold the meat against lengthwise shifting at least during the stripping of the tail portion of the shell from the meat. To this end, the fixed gripping members 27 and 28 are provided with inclined teeth 80 that engage with the body portion of the shell.

Also, a vertically movable pin 81 extends downwardly through upper gripping member 28 and is selectively engageable with the shrimp to pierce the shell of the shrimp and extend into the meat to pinion the meat against endwise displacement during stripping of the tail portion of the shell (see FIGS. 4, 9 and 12).

Finally, horizontally movable gripper 30 has blunt teeth 84 thereon-that are directed toward the shelling station and engage the underside of the body of the shrimp between the legs of the shrimp. In the event that legs or bits of the body shell portion cling to gripper 30 between teeth 84, fixed pins 85 are provided carried by a support 86 on the machine frame. The pins 85 extend through openings through gripper 30 and between teeth 84 in the retracted position of gripper 30 to clean the gripper 30, as seen in FIG. 5.

PRODUCT DISCHARGE As seen at the extreme right of FIG. 1, another horizontal oscillatable shaft 64 is provided that carries an arm 65 that extends upwardly to the left as seen in FIG. 1 and then descends to a free lower end 66 best seen in FIG. 7. Shaft 64 oscillates to raise and lower end 66 so that end 66 moves down to hold down the tail portion of the meat after the tail portion of the shell has been stripped therefrom, and also moves down to perform a positive ejection of the entire shelled shrimp meat when the meat has been fully pushed from the gripped body portion of the shell by continued movement of ejector 42 to the right as seen in FIG. 12. End 66 thus serves as a meat product ejector for forcing the meat product down into the discharge chute 93 best seen in FIG. 1.

EJECTION OF BODY SHELL Mounted for rotation on a horizontal shaft 67 is an arm 69 that carries an ejector 68 for the body portion of the shell which is gripped between the fixed gripping members 27 and 28. Shaft 67 is driven by bevel gears 70 and chain wheels 71 (FIG. 7). Ejector 68 rotates clockwise as seen in FIG. 6, while the gripper 30 is moving to the left and the slide 21 is also moving to the left to insert a new shrimp. Ejector 68 thus moves ahead of the advancing new shrimp into and through the shelling station and out of the shelling station behind the gripper 30.

Ejector 68 is in the form of a pin that is inclined at an acute angle to the direction of conveyor movement such that the ejected body shell portion is moved somewhat to the left as seen in FIG. 8 upon ejection, so that it falls about where the head fell. Of course, gripper 29 is in its raised position when ejector 68 makes its ejection stroke.

TAIL SHELL EJECTION In the event the tail shell portion remains between the members 48, 50 and 51, an ejector for the tail shell portion is provided, as well as a cleaner for the roller 52. This structure is best seen in FIGS. 7 and 8. An upright bearing bushing 72 supports a vertical shaft at whose upper end is secured a fork 73 oscillatable by an axially reciprocable horizontal shaft 74. At its lower end, this vertical shaft carries ejector 75 that swings in a horizontal plane between the plate 48 and the guide 50, on the one hand, and the guide 51 on the other hand, clockwise as seen in FIG. 8,. thereby to eject the possibly remaining tail portion of the shell and/or other bits of the shrimp.

The vertical shaft in bushing 72 also carries at its lower end an arm 76 that passes above the upper guide 51 and that at its free end carries a vertically disposed arcuate segment 76' whose inner concave edge moves across the arcuate periphery of roller 52 in closely spaced relationship thereby to strip away any particles of flesh or shell that remain on the working surface of roller 52. The axial reciprocatory movement of shaft 74 and hence the cleaning and ejection functions just described take place when the parts carried by support 6 are in their fully retracted position.

SEQUENCE OF OPERATIONS As indicated above, in the foregoing sections, the functions of the different portions of the apparatus were described in the sequence in which the apparatus was described, with no special regard for the sequence in which the apparatus operates. That latter sequence is as follows:

A shrimp arriving on the conveyor 14, with the curvature foremost, is stopped by the catching member 16. The pin 24 performs a transverse stroke to ensure accurate orientation of the shrimp in catching member 16. Member 16 then moves upwardly and the shrimp moves on until it abuts the stopping member 22 and the slide 21 pushes it in correct orientation into the shelling station, between gripping members 27 and 28. At this point, the parts are in the position of FIG. 10.

The bar which carries the slide 21 and the gripper 30 and the block 40 and the blade 41 then begins to retract; and as soon as it has moved sufficiently far to the right as seen in FIG. 6, the gripper 29 descends and engages the back of the shrimp. Then the shaft 31 rotates clockwise as seen in FIG. 7 until the pin 32 moves from its FIG. position to its FIG. 11 position, and the parts are otherwise positioned as shown in FIG. 11.

Next the stretcher 37 swings to hold the tail of the shrimp while the blade 41 beheads the shrimp and the gripper 30 with its teeth 84 engages the underside of the body of the shrimp. The blades 82 and 83 are thus brought together sufficiently to sever a portion of the shell of the shrimp. The timing of the movement of the gripper 30 relative to the movement of the pin 32 is of course such that the gripper 30 has not moved sufficiently close to the shrimp to interfere with straightening movement of the tail at the time that the pin 32 first straightens the tail of the shrimp.

At this point, blade 91 descends and cuts through the peritoneum of the shrimp and immediately "retracts. The arm 65 moves until its lower end 66 is just above the tail portion of the shrimp. The ejector 42 then moves to the left in FIG. 12 until it has pushed the shrimp meat only part way through the gripped body portion of the shell, to the FIG. 12 position. The meat carries along the tail portion of the shell, so that the tail portion is separated from the body portion of the shell. The ejector 42 then is momentarily arrested.

The pin 81 (FIG. 12) then descends and penetrates the shell and into the meat, in order to hold the meat stationary while the tail portion of the shell is stripped away. To strip the tail portion of the shell, the support 6 moves to the left as seen in FIG. 7 so that the roller 52 rolls over the tail portion of the shell and kneads the meat in the shell thereby loosening the tail portion of the shell from the tail meat. At this time, the tail is pressed against the yielding plate 48. The bar 57, which was moved fully toward the shelling station, is then partially retracted to the right so that roller 52 rolls back over the tail section of the shell but not entirely off the tail section of the shell. Simultaneously, the arm 62 descends until the plate 63 is saddled over the meat between the separated body portion and tail portion of the shell. Upon further retractive movement of the bar 57, the plate 63 engages the left end of the tail section of the shell as seen in FIG. 12, and upon further rightward movement of plate 63 as seen in FIG. 7, strips the tail section of the shell from the meat.

The pin 81 is then raised and the ejector 42 completes its working stroke to the right in FIG. 12, forcing the meat completely out of the body portion of the shell. The meat, free from both shell sections, then drops into the chute 93. The lower end 66 of arm 65 descends to make sure that the meat is forced down into the discharge chute, and then rises again. The arm 63 also rises again to make way for the next shrimp. The rod 74 reciprocates, and the ejector 75 moves between the lower members 48, S0 and the upper member 51; while at the same time, the arm 76 moves the arcuate segment 76' over the working surface of roller 52 to clean the same.

Ejector 42 is retracted from the block 40 and gripper 29 ascends. Slide 21 now starts the next working stroke with a fresh shrimp and the block 40 begins to retract from the shelling station, moving downwardly as seen in FIG. 12. But immediately upon the rising of gripper 29 and the partial retraction of gripper 30, the ejector 68 rotates clockwise as seen in FIG. 6 to eject the body portion of the shell from between the fixed gripping members 27, 28. Finally, upon the full return of the gripper 30 to the FIG. 5 position, when a further shrimp is introduced by slide 21 into the shelling station, the pins move through openings in gripper 30 to eject any shrimp particles that might be clinging to the teeth 84 or the blade 83.

It will of course be understood that the movable parts of the apparatus of the present invention are operated in timed relationship with each other by means of transmissions comprising gearing and cams and levers, which have been omitted so as to avoid needlessly complicating the disclosure. Such transmissions are well known to persons having ordinary skill in this art, and accordingly need not be disclosed in greater detail.

From a consideration of the foregoing disclosure, therefore, it will be evident that all of the initially recited objects of the present invention have been achieved.

Although the present invention has been described and illustrated in connection with a preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that modifications and variations may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention, as those skilled in this art will readily understand. Such modifications and variations are considered to be within the purview and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. Apparatus for shelling shrimps, comprising means for gripping the body of the shrimp, means for straightening the tail of the shrimp into line with the body, means for cutting off the head of the shrimp, means for severing the shell of the shrimp intermediate its length into a body portion and a tail portion of the shell, and for pushing the meat only part way out of the body portion of the shell in the direction of the tail thereby to space said tail portion of the shell from said body portion of the shell, means for stripping the tail portion of the shell from the tail, means for then pushing the meat in the direction of the tail the rest of the way out of the body portion of the shell, and means for kneading the tail portion of the shell prior to said stripping to loosen said tail portion of the shell from the tail, said kneading means comprising a roller and means for rolling said roller on and lengthwise of said tail portion of the shell.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, said rolling means comprising a gear wheel rigid with said roller, a fixed rack with which said gear wheel is in mesh, said roller and gear wheel being coaxial, the radius of the pitch circle of the gear wheel being equal to the radius of the roller, and means for moving said gear wheel and roller lengthwise of the shrimp in a direction perpendicular to said axis.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2, and a support for the underside of the shrimp tail beneath the roller, and means yieldably mounting said support for vertical movement under the pressure of the roller.

4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 3, and a horizontally reciprocable cleaner for said support that moves over said support after the retraction of the roller.

5. Apparatus as claimed in claim 3, and means mounting said support for horizontal movement toward and away from the shelling station in the direction of the length of the straightened shrimp.

6. Apparatus as claimed in claim 3, and a cleaner for the roller horizontally reciprocable over the periphery of the roller in the retracted position of the roller.

7. Apparatus for shelling shrimps, comprising means for gripping the body of the shrimp, means for straightening the tail of the shrimp into line with the body, means for cutting off the head of the shrimp, means for severing the shell of the shrimp intermediate its length into a body portion and a tail portion of the shell, and for pushing the meat only part way out of the body portion of the shell in the direction of the tail thereby to space said tail portion of the shell from said body portion of the shell, means for stripping the tail portion of the shell from the tail, and means for then pushing the meat in the direction of the tail the rest of the way out of the body portion of the shell, said gripping means comprising upper and lower grippers for gripping the shrimp above and below, and a pair of lateral grippers one of which is mounted for vertical movement into and out of gripping position and the other of which is mounted for horizontal movement into and out of gripping position.

8. Apparatus as claimed in claim 7, said movable grippers having knife edges thereon for severing the shell of the shrimp between the body portion of the shell and the tail portion of the shell.

9. Apparatus as claimed in claim 7, said upper and lower grippers having gripping teeth thereon to engage the body portion of the shell of the shrimp.

[0. Apparatus as claimed in claim 7, said horizontally movable gripper having teeth thereon for engaging the body portion of the shrimp.

11. Apparatus as claimed in claim 10, said horizontally movable gripper having openings therethrough, and fixed pins that enter and project through said openings in the position in which the horizontal gripper is farthest from the shelling station thereby to clean the horizontal gripper.

12. Apparatus as claimed in claim 7, said horizontally movable gripper having a blade thereon for beheading the shrimp.

13. Apparatus as claimed in claim 12, said blade having an opening therethrough that is in line with the longitudinal extent of the beheaded shrimp when the horizontally movable gripper is engaged with the shrimp, said pushing means being reciprocable lengthwise of the shrimp through said opening.

14. Apparatus for shelling shrimps, comprising means for gripping the body of the shrimp, means for straightening the tail of the shrimp into line with the body, means for cutting off the head of the shrimp,

means for severing the shell of the shrimp intermediate its length into a body portion and a tail portion of the shell,and for pushing the meat only part way out of the body portion of the shell in the direction of the tail thereby to space said tail portion of the shell from said body portion of the shell, means for stripping the tail portion of the shell from the tail, means for then pushing the meat in the direction of the tail the rest of the way out of the body portion of the shell, and a vertically reciprocable blade for severing the peritoneum of the shrimp between the tail and body portions of the shrimp.

15. Apparatus for shelling shrimps, comprising means for gripping the body of the shrimp, means for straightening the tail of the shrimp into line with the body, means for cutting off the head of the shrimp, means for severing the shell of the shrimp intermediate its length into a body portion and. a tail portion of the shell, and for pushing the meat only part way out of the body portion of the shell in the direction of the tail thereby to space said tail portion of the shell from said body portion of the shell, means for stripping the tail portion of the shell from the tail, means for then pushing the meat in the direction of the tail the rest of the way out of the body portion of the shell, and a vertically reciprocable pin that penetrates the body portion of the shell of the shrimp and extends into the meat of the shrimp to hold the shrimp against lengthwise displacement during the action of said stripping means.

16. Apparatus for shelling shrimps, comprising means for gripping the body of the shrimp, means for straightening the tail of the shrimp into line with the body, means for cutting off the head of the shrimp, means for severing the shell of the shrimp intermediate its length into a body portion and a tail portion of the shell, and for pushing the meat only part way out of the body portion of the shell in the direction of the tail thereby to space said tail portion of the shell from said body portion of the shell, means for stripping the tail portion of the shell from the tail, means for then pushing the meat in the direction of the tail the rest of the way out of the body portion of the shell, said stripping means having a downwardly concave surface that engages the meat of the shrimp between the separated body and tail portions of the shell, and means for moving the stripping means horizontally away from the body portion of the shrimp to engage the adjacent end of the tail portion of the shell to strip the tail portion of the shell from the meat.

17. Apparatus for shelling shrimps, comprising means for gripping the body of tine shrimp, means for straightening the tail of the shrimp into line with the body, means for cutting off the head of the shrimp, means for severing the body shell of the shrimp intermediate its length into a body portion and a tail portion of the shell, and for pushing the meat only part way out of the body portion of the shell in the direction of the tail thereby to space said tail portion of the shell from said body portion of the shell, means for stripping the tail portion of the shell from the tail, means for then pushing the meat in the direction of the tail the rest of the way out of the body portion of the shell, and a vertically movable bar whose lower end contacts the shelled shrimp meat to push the shelled shrimp meat downward out of the shelling station upon downward movement of the bar.

18. Apparatus for shelling shrimps, comprising means for gripping the body of the shrimp, means for straightening the tail of the shrimp into line with the body, means for cutting off the: head of the shrimp, means for severing the shell of the shrimp intermediate its length into a body portion and a tail portion of the shell, and for pushing the meat only part way out of the body portion of the shell in the direction of the tail thereby to space said tail portion of the shell from said body portion of the shell, means for stripping the tail portion of the shell from the tail, and means for then pushing the meat in the direction of the tail the rest of the way out of the body portion of the shell, said means for straightening the tail of the shrimp comprising a member rotatable to engage the underside of the shrimp intermediate the length of the shrimp and to move parallel to the length of the body portion of the shrimp to bend the tail portion into line with the body portion of the shrimp.

19. Apparatus as claimed in claim 18, said straightening means including a member mounted for rotation about an axis perpendicular to the length of the straightened shrimp.

20. Apparatus as claimed in claim 19, said straightening means including a second member having a flat surface closer to the shrimp than said rotating member, and means for engaging said flat surface with the underside of the tail of the shrimp after said rotating member has straightened the tail of the shrimp.

21. Apparatus as claimed in claim 7, and a cleaner for ejecting the body portion of the shell from the shelling station, and means mounting said cleaner for movement through the shelling station when said vertically movable gripper is raised and said horizontally movable gripper is spaced from the shelling station.

22. Apparatus as claimed in claim 21, and means mounting said cleaner for rotation about a horizontal axis spaced above and parallel to the length of the shrimp in the shelling station.

23. Apparatus as claimed in claim 22, said cleaner having a surface which is inclined to the lengthwise extent of the shrimp in the shelling station, said inclined surface being turned partly toward said horizontally movable gripper and partly toward the direction from which the meat of the shrimp is pushed thereby to impart to the body portion of the shell a component of movement backward with respect to said direction of push.

24. Apparatus for shelling shrimps, comprising means for gripping the body of the shrimp, means for straightening the tail of the shrimp into line with the body, means for cutting off the head of the shrimp, means for severing the shell of the shrimp intermediate its length into a body portion and a tail portion of the shell, and for pushing the meat only part way out of the body portion of the shell in the direction of the tail thereby to space said tail portion of the shell from said body portion of the shell, means for stripping the tail portion of the shell from the tail, means for then pushing the meat in the direction of the tail the rest of the way out of the body portion of the shell, an endless belt conveyor parallel to the lengthwise extent of the gripped shrimp for advancing shrimps toward the shelling station, a catching member above the conveyor having an open end for admitting shrimps, means for moving said catching member vertically to release a detained shrimp, a transverse member for thereafter stopping the released shrimp, and a transverse slide horizontally movable across the belt conveyor to advance the stopped shrimp into the shelling station.

25. Apparatus as claimed in claim 24, and a member movable transversely to the belt in front of the open end of the catching member to contact the underside of the head of the shrimp and correct the orientation of the shrimp in the catching member,

26. Apparatus as claimed in claim 24, said catching member having a curved wall closing its end opposite said open end. 

1. Apparatus for shelling shrimps, comprising means for gripping the body of the shrimp, means for straightening the tail of the shrimp into line with the body, means for cutting off the head of the shrimp, means for severing the shell of the shrimp intermediate its length into a body portion and a tail portion of the shell, and for pushing the meat only part way out of the body portion of the shell in the direction of the tail thereby to space said tail portion of the shell from said body portion of the shell, means for stripping the tail portion of the shell from the tail, means for then pushing the meat in the direction of the tail the rest of the way out of the body portion of the shell, and means for kneading the tail portion of the shell prior to said stripping to loosen said tail portion of the shell from the tail, said kneading means comprising a roller and means for rolling said roller on and lengthwise of said tail portion of the shell.
 2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, said rolling means comprising a gear wheel rigid with said roller, a fixed rack with which said gear wheel is in mesh, said roller and gear wheel being coaxial, the radius of the pitch circle of the gear wheel being equal to the radius of the roller, and means for moving said gear wheel and roller lengthwise of the shrimp in a direction perpendicular to said axis.
 3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2, and a support for the underside of the shrimp tail beneath the roller, and means yieldably mounting said support for vertical movement under the pressure of the roller.
 4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 3, and a horizontally reciprocable cleaner for said support that moves over said support after the retraction of the roller.
 5. Apparatus as claimed in claim 3, and means mounting said support for horizontal movement toward and away from the shelling station in the direction of the length of the straightened shrimp.
 6. Apparatus as claimed in claim 3, and a cleaner for the roller horizontally reciprocable over the periphery of the roller in the retracted position of the roller.
 7. Apparatus for shelling shrimps, comprising means for gripping the body of the shrimp, means for straightening the tail of the shrimp into line with the body, means for cutting off the head of the shrimp, means for severing the shell of the shrimp intermediate its length into a body portion and a tail portion of the shell, and for pushing the meat only part way out of the body portion of the shell in the direction of the tail thereby to space said tail portion of the shell from said body portion of the shell, means for stripping the tail portion of the shell from the tail, and means for then pushing the meat in the direction of the tail the rest of the way out of the body portion of the shell, said gripping means comprising upper and lower Grippers for gripping the shrimp above and below, and a pair of lateral grippers one of which is mounted for vertical movement into and out of gripping position and the other of which is mounted for horizontal movement into and out of gripping position.
 8. Apparatus as claimed in claim 7, said movable grippers having knife edges thereon for severing the shell of the shrimp between the body portion of the shell and the tail portion of the shell.
 9. Apparatus as claimed in claim 7, said upper and lower grippers having gripping teeth thereon to engage the body portion of the shell of the shrimp.
 10. Apparatus as claimed in claim 7, said horizontally movable gripper having teeth thereon for engaging the body portion of the shrimp.
 11. Apparatus as claimed in claim 10, said horizontally movable gripper having openings therethrough, and fixed pins that enter and project through said openings in the position in which the horizontal gripper is farthest from the shelling station thereby to clean the horizontal gripper.
 12. Apparatus as claimed in claim 7, said horizontally movable gripper having a blade thereon for beheading the shrimp.
 13. Apparatus as claimed in claim 12, said blade having an opening therethrough that is in line with the longitudinal extent of the beheaded shrimp when the horizontally movable gripper is engaged with the shrimp, said pushing means being reciprocable lengthwise of the shrimp through said opening.
 14. Apparatus for shelling shrimps, comprising means for gripping the body of the shrimp, means for straightening the tail of the shrimp into line with the body, means for cutting off the head of the shrimp, means for severing the shell of the shrimp intermediate its length into a body portion and a tail portion of the shell, and for pushing the meat only part way out of the body portion of the shell in the direction of the tail thereby to space said tail portion of the shell from said body portion of the shell, means for stripping the tail portion of the shell from the tail, means for then pushing the meat in the direction of the tail the rest of the way out of the body portion of the shell, and a vertically reciprocable blade for severing the peritoneum of the shrimp between the tail and body portions of the shrimp.
 15. Apparatus for shelling shrimps, comprising means for gripping the body of the shrimp, means for straightening the tail of the shrimp into line with the body, means for cutting off the head of the shrimp, means for severing the shell of the shrimp intermediate its length into a body portion and a tail portion of the shell, and for pushing the meat only part way out of the body portion of the shell in the direction of the tail thereby to space said tail portion of the shell from said body portion of the shell, means for stripping the tail portion of the shell from the tail, means for then pushing the meat in the direction of the tail the rest of the way out of the body portion of the shell, and a vertically reciprocable pin that penetrates the body portion of the shell of the shrimp and extends into the meat of the shrimp to hold the shrimp against lengthwise displacement during the action of said stripping means.
 16. Apparatus for shelling shrimps, comprising means for gripping the body of the shrimp, means for straightening the tail of the shrimp into line with the body, means for cutting off the head of the shrimp, means for severing the shell of the shrimp intermediate its length into a body portion and a tail portion of the shell, and for pushing the meat only part way out of the body portion of the shell in the direction of the tail thereby to space said tail portion of the shell from said body portion of the shell, means for stripping the tail portion of the shell from the tail, means for then pushing the meat in the direction of the tail the rest of the way out of the body portion of the shell, said stripping means having a downwardly concave surface that engages the meat of the shrimp between the separated body anD tail portions of the shell, and means for moving the stripping means horizontally away from the body portion of the shrimp to engage the adjacent end of the tail portion of the shell to strip the tail portion of the shell from the meat.
 17. Apparatus for shelling shrimps, comprising means for gripping the body of the shrimp, means for straightening the tail of the shrimp into line with the body, means for cutting off the head of the shrimp, means for severing the body shell of the shrimp intermediate its length into a body portion and a tail portion of the shell, and for pushing the meat only part way out of the body portion of the shell in the direction of the tail thereby to space said tail portion of the shell from said body portion of the shell, means for stripping the tail portion of the shell from the tail, means for then pushing the meat in the direction of the tail the rest of the way out of the body portion of the shell, and a vertically movable bar whose lower end contacts the shelled shrimp meat to push the shelled shrimp meat downward out of the shelling station upon downward movement of the bar.
 18. Apparatus for shelling shrimps, comprising means for gripping the body of the shrimp, means for straightening the tail of the shrimp into line with the body, means for cutting off the head of the shrimp, means for severing the shell of the shrimp intermediate its length into a body portion and a tail portion of the shell, and for pushing the meat only part way out of the body portion of the shell in the direction of the tail thereby to space said tail portion of the shell from said body portion of the shell, means for stripping the tail portion of the shell from the tail, and means for then pushing the meat in the direction of the tail the rest of the way out of the body portion of the shell, said means for straightening the tail of the shrimp comprising a member rotatable to engage the underside of the shrimp intermediate the length of the shrimp and to move parallel to the length of the body portion of the shrimp to bend the tail portion into line with the body portion of the shrimp.
 19. Apparatus as claimed in claim 18, said straightening means including a member mounted for rotation about an axis perpendicular to the length of the straightened shrimp.
 20. Apparatus as claimed in claim 19, said straightening means including a second member having a flat surface closer to the shrimp than said rotating member, and means for engaging said flat surface with the underside of the tail of the shrimp after said rotating member has straightened the tail of the shrimp.
 21. Apparatus as claimed in claim 7, and a cleaner for ejecting the body portion of the shell from the shelling station, and means mounting said cleaner for movement through the shelling station when said vertically movable gripper is raised and said horizontally movable gripper is spaced from the shelling station.
 22. Apparatus as claimed in claim 21, and means mounting said cleaner for rotation about a horizontal axis spaced above and parallel to the length of the shrimp in the shelling station.
 23. Apparatus as claimed in claim 22, said cleaner having a surface which is inclined to the lengthwise extent of the shrimp in the shelling station, said inclined surface being turned partly toward said horizontally movable gripper and partly toward the direction from which the meat of the shrimp is pushed thereby to impart to the body portion of the shell a component of movement backward with respect to said direction of push.
 24. Apparatus for shelling shrimps, comprising means for gripping the body of the shrimp, means for straightening the tail of the shrimp into line with the body, means for cutting off the head of the shrimp, means for severing the shell of the shrimp intermediate its length into a body portion and a tail portion of the shell, and for pushing the meat only part way out of the body portion of the shell in the direction of the tail thereby to space said tail portion of the shell from said body portion of the shell, means for stripping the tail portion of the shell from the tail, means for then pushing the meat in the direction of the tail the rest of the way out of the body portion of the shell, an endless belt conveyor parallel to the lengthwise extent of the gripped shrimp for advancing shrimps toward the shelling station, a catching member above the conveyor having an open end for admitting shrimps, means for moving said catching member vertically to release a detained shrimp, a transverse member for thereafter stopping the released shrimp, and a transverse slide horizontally movable across the belt conveyor to advance the stopped shrimp into the shelling station.
 25. Apparatus as claimed in claim 24, and a member movable transversely to the belt in front of the open end of the catching member to contact the underside of the head of the shrimp and correct the orientation of the shrimp in the catching member.
 26. Apparatus as claimed in claim 24, said catching member having a curved wall closing its end opposite said open end. 